In a statement, the New Conservatives grouping of more than 20 MPs said that the surge in net migration represented an existential threat to the party and demanded an emergency package of measures to reduce it.
“High rates of immigration depress wages, reduce investment in skills and technology, put unsustainable pressure on housing and public services, and threaten community cohesion,” they said.
“The word ‘existential’ has been used a lot in recent days but this really is do or die for our party. Each of us made a promise to the electorate. We don’t believe that such promises can be ignored.
“The Government must propose, today, a comprehensive package of measures to meet the manifesto promise by the time of the next election. We will assess any such package and report publicly on whether it will meet the promise made to the electorate.
“The Prime Minister, Chancellor, and new Home Secretary must show that they stand by the promises on which we were elected to Parliament. We must act now.”
Dependents could face ban
Ministers are considering banning health and care workers from bringing in dependents or restricting them to one per visa, increasing the minimum salary threshold that foreign workers must earn to qualify for a work visa from £26,200 to more than £30,000 and scrapping pay discounts for foreign staff in shortage occupations.
The figures come just a day after the budget watchdog warned the Prime Minister that his policies would not reduce net migration to its pre-pandemic levels before 2027.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said an extra 150,000 migrants would arrive in the next five years including 410,000 net migration in the run-up to the election next year. In total, immigration would add an estimated 1.5 million people to the population by 2028-29.
James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, said the migration figure was “not showing a significant increase” but “we are working across government on further measures to prevent exploitation and manipulation of our visa system”.
‘Highly volatile world’
Maggie Morgan from the ONS said: “Our most recent migration statistics are always provisional and supported by assumptions around whether we think people will stay 12 months or more.
“We are responding to changes in a highly volatile world and our revisions reflect the unexpected patterns arising from that unpredictability. This will continue to influence our measures of uncertainty.”
The latest figures show that a total of 1.18 million people are estimated to have arrived in the UK in the year to June 2023 while 508,000 are likely to have left – leaving the net migration figure at 672,000.
Most people arriving to the UK in the year ending June 2023 were non-EU nationals (968,000), followed by EU (129,000) and British (84,000), the ONS said.
Studying remained the biggest contributor to non-EU immigration in that period, accounting for 39 per cent, largely unchanged compared with the previous period.
The next biggest contributor to non-EU immigration was migrants coming for work – having risen to 33 per cent from 23 per cent in the year ending June 2022, and largely attributed to people on health and care visas.
Arrivals of people via humanitarian routes have fallen from 19 per cent to nine per cent over the same period, the ONS said, with most of these made up of Ukrainians and British Nationals (Overseas) arrivals from Hong Kong.
‘Shifting behaviours’
Jay Lindop, from the ONS, said: “Net migration to the UK has been running at record levels, driven by a rise in people coming for work, increasing numbers of students, and a series of world events.
“Before the pandemic, migration was relatively stable but patterns and behaviours have been shifting considerably since then.
“More recently, we’re not only seeing more students arrive, but we can also see they’re staying for longer. More dependants of people with work and study visas have arrived too, and immigration is now being driven by non-EU arrivals.
“The latest numbers are higher than 12 months ago but are down slightly on our updated figures for the year ending December 2022. It is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend.”
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
